Infidel Places

 

Infidel Places by Una McCormack

Infidel Places may not be the worst Torchwood Main Range, an honor that in my opinion is unambiguously that of The Dollhouse, but it certainly qualifies in my view as the most annoying. Also perhaps the most boring. But also the annoying part. The most comparable story in Big Finish’s catalog would be, I feel, the Lovecraft Invasion, another story that is similarly aggressive. Infidel Places is slightly better off though in that it doesn’t actually target a bad historical figure with bile, but instead targets a bad historical institution with bile. Hold your horses, Infidel Places is alllllllllllll about sexism.

The majority of Infidel Places is Queen Victoria making sly remarks at one of the most obnoxious fictional characters I’ve ever had the pleasure of dealing with, Sir James, a man who possesses no character traits but hatred for women in his innermost heart. I hate Sir James. None of his dialogue is anything but saying HAHA WOMAN BAD and it is so annoying. I understand the purpose of his character in the narrative and that he’s meant to be un likable, but compare him to the museum curator in The Red Lady or Sir Grey in The Black Knight, characters that implement prejudice into the narrative actually well. The chief part is that The Red Lady and Black Knight use these characters to establish stakes, and they’re, well, not in it as much. Sir James is a constant presence throughout the episode, spewing his bigotry all over the place with annoying frequency. There is so much of it, and after a while it simply proves to be repetitive, not having a point because we already know it! He constantly, constantly repeats himself, and it doesn’t help that the episode doesn’t have much outside this in terms of a plot. 

There’s much like most Torchwood Main Range misfires, a decent idea in here. I think it would be delightful to have a story where Queen Victoria “exorcises” a demonic appearing alien or evil force. There’s fun gothic imagery in there, and some cool horror potential, offset by the inherent comedy in the concept that it’s the fucking Queen exorcising a demon. There's not much of that in the actual script, which mostly concerns an election where men are voting on whether women can get degrees or not, a real moment in academic history. It's interesting, but it's not much of a hook. Queen Victoria is also very strangely characterized as a champion of Woman's rights. In actuality, Queen Victoria is a woman who said “Let women be what God intended, a helpmate for man, but with totally different duties and vocations.” It's very odd that Queen Victoria is portrayed this way in the story, in fact, it borders on revisionism for our dear famous monarch. It's also rather strange in that Queen Victoria is suddenly an expert on alien technology, utilizing an advanced alien scanner throughout the audio. I prefer her as a manipulative yet complicated figure who uses those around her in Yvonne Hartman-esque ways. I'll even take action hero Victoria from the Victorian Age audio rather than the Girlboss techie Victoria we see here. 

This whole review feels rather too brutal, I think, and I really wish I could in earnest, be kinder to a character who gave us the stunning Fortitude and phenomenal Save Our Souls. Una McCormack, is in addition, one of my favorite authors. Especially her Star Trek novels like The Way to The Stars, Enigma Tales and her autobiography series. She's written quite a few good Doctor Who books too, such as Molten Heart, and so I'm inclined to end this review charitably, and say that the play is probably a fluke. It certainly reminded me of the altogether better "An Eye for Murder," a story from Breaking Bubbles also by Una McCormack that also tackles similar themes and works in a college setting with much more aplomb. I think I can begrudge the Torchwood Range a few misfires, especially considering how much sheer joy it's given me over the years, so I think I'll just reflect on all the 10/10s we've had before for a bit. You know, breaking into rage over a rare bad story in a phenomenal range by a phenomenal writer isn't really going to accomplish much. 4/10